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Re: recent conservation trip to NV

Well done  Peter keep up the good work !!



On Sat, 02 May 1998 11:53:41 -0700 (MST) peter.unmack at ASU_Edu writes:
>G'day folks
>
>March 19-22 saw a successful conservation trip to the southeastern 
>portion
>of Nevada.  Members from several conservation orientated clubs
>participated in this event including the Bay Area Killifish 
>Association,
>North American Native Fishes Association, Northern California 
>Killifish
>Club, and Tropical FishKeepers Exchange.  A great fun filled weekend 
>was
>had by all.  Our first effort was concentrated on the Moapa River near
>Glendale.  Tilapia (Oreochromis aureus) had recently invaded parts of 
>the
>upper springhead near the Fish and Wildlife Service Refuge.  Great 
>gobs of
>tilapia were found throughout the spring outflow along with a good 
>numbers
>of mollies (Poecilia mexicana) and damnbusia (Gambusia affinis).  A 
>few
>native springfish (Crenichthys baileyi moapae) and Moapa dace (Moapa
>coriacea) were also seen but they were far rarer than the section 
>without
>tilapia.  Further downstream near the old powerstation diversion dam 
>fish
>were virtually non existent.  Electrofishing revealed virtually no 
>fish
>except a couple of exotics.  Gill nets were set overnight in the ponds
>down at the power plant.  Last year Jim Heinrich (Nevada Division of
>Wildlife) caught good numbers of Virgin River chubs (Gila seminuda) 
>here. 
>The only fishes caught by us were more great gobs of tilapia (some up 
>to
>~16 inches) and a few baby mollies were observed.  The Moapa is indeed 
>a
>pretty sick system at this point in time. 
>
>Our second destination was the Virgin River at Mesquite.  Both 
>woundfin
>(Plagopterus argentissimus) and Virgin River chubs have been released 
>here
>from hatchery stocks here.  The fish have small metal tags which allow
>them to be distinguished from wild fish.  Good numbers of most native 
>fish
>were found including speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus), flannelmouth
>sucker (Catostomus latipinnis), and desert sucker (Pantosteus clarki) 
>as
>well as the two stocked natives.  Red shiners (Cyprinella lutrensis) 
>were
>present, but in lower numbers than usual.  While the riverine 
>environment
>looked to be in really healthy shape it doesn't last very long.  
>According
>to Jim Heinrich, water diversions during summer virtually dry this 
>stretch
>of river leaving the fish little suitable habitat and elevated water
>temperatures.  We moved upstream into Arizona to the mouth of Beaver 
>Dam
>Wash primarily to collect desert suckers for genetic work by Carol 
>Secor,
>a graduate student at Arizona State University.  Fortunately good 
>numbers
>of suckers were found along with hundreds of speckled dace!  That 
>evening
>saw us camp further upstream in Beaver Dam Wash at a delightful
>campground.  Here we were finally able to see some Virgin River 
>spinedace
>(Lepidomeda mollispinis), the rarest native fish in this drainage. 
>
>All in all a great time was had by all participants.  I'd like to 
>thank 
>all those who made the effort to come along and help.  Special thanks 
>go 
>to Ellen Siegal who did a fantastic job feeding the group.  Also, 
>thanks 
>again to Jim Heinrich for allowing us the opportunity to get involved 
>and 
>for making arrangements.  All collecting in Nevada was done under his 
>supervision, collecting in Arizona was conducted under state and 
>federal 
>permits.  
>
>Our next major trip will be to Ash Meadows and _should_ be over the
>Columbus day weekend (October 9-12).  More details will be made 
>available
>shortly.  We may also have a smaller trip in early September although
>details of this trip won't be known for some time.  Please feel free 
>to 
>contact me regarding any of the above.  Anyone and everyone is 
>welcome!
>
>Best Fishes
>
>Peter J Unmack 			peter.unmack at asu_edu
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>DESERT FISHES RULE: To boldly thrive where no other fish can make it!
>
>Australian desert fishes pages at http://ozdesertfish.base.org (don't 
>forget to visit the Desert Fishes Council pages too)
>Native Fish Australia pages at http://www.nativefish.asn.au
>North American Native Fishes Association at http://www.nanfa.org 
>Aquatic Conservation Network at http://www.acn.ca
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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